1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to nanotweezers that hold and release a substance of nanosize (hereinafter called “nanosubstance”) and also relates to nanotweezers enabling the optimum control of holding and releasing of nanosubstance by detecting a distance (interval) of at least two arms formed from nanotube that hold the nanosubstance through voltage and current, and further relates to a nanomanipulator device manufactures nanostructures such as nanosize parts and nanomolecular device by carrying the nanosubstance with the nanotweezers.
2. Prior Art
As for technology in recent years, it is oriented toward the minimum area more and more. For example, the development of the progressive manufacturing technology in nano-area is requested like the manufacture of the new bio-related functional material due to accumulation of cell and protein, and the manufacture of the new material related to the light and electronic information and the nanosize parts.
In order to build such a nanostructures, a development of nanotweezers that hold and release nanosubstances is requested, and a development of a nanomanipulator device is requested to hold, carry and release the nanosubstances.
First of all, the first archetype of nanotweezers was announced on “Science” by Philip Kim and Charles M. Lieber on Dec. 10, 1999. The nanotweezers are manufactured by pulling a glass tube until its tip end diameter becomes 100 nm and fixing two carbon nanotubes on the tip end. In such nanotweezers, by applying DC voltage to two carbon nanotubes, the positive and negative static electricities are generated at the tip ends of the carbon nanotubes, and the tip ends of the carbon nanotubes open and close due to the electrostatic attractive force.
However, the base body of this nanotweezers was very fragile because it was the glass tube which was made its tip end sharp by the elongation process, and there was a danger that the carbon nanotubes dropped off from the glass tube because the technology fixing the carbon nanotube strongly on the tip end of the glass tube was not established yet. And, the use as a nanotweezers was restricted because the technology carrying the glass tube freely was not established too.
In order to improve these faults, the inventors of the present application paid attention to the cantilever used for the atomic force microscope (AFM) and the drive control device of the cantilever. Then, through the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 2001-252900, the technology was developed which fastens two carbon nanotubes on the protruding portion of the cantilever for AFM strongly and hence it was developed the nanotweezers whose the tip ends of the carbon nanotubes can be opened and closed by applying the electrostatic voltage to the two carbon nanotubes. At the same time, by using the drive control device of the cantilever, it was developed the nanomanipulator device that can carry the nanotweezers freely with a nanoscale precision.
Furthermore, the inventors of the present application invented nanotweezers formed by three and more carbon nanotubes provided on the protruding portion of a cantilever as disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 2000-404006, and the nanotweezers succeeded in holding and carrying various types of nanosubstance such as a spherical nanosubstance and a bar-like nanosubstance by opening and closing the tip ends of three and more carbon nanotubes due to the electrostatic force.
The nanotweezers can be also called nano-robot that can operate nanosubstances freely. When thinking with the macro-robot having the size of a human being, for example in the case of holding a glass cup, it should be just necessary that the glass cup is held by the grip strength controlled to some degree that the glass is not broken. As for the nano-robot as well, the same condition for this grip strength control is requested naturally.
In order to carry and control nanosubstances with the nanotweezers, it is necessary firstly to detect whether the nanotweezers hold nanosubstance first, and secondly to detect how much grip strength it has to hold the nanosubstance.
That reason is because there is the possibility that the nanosubstance deforms structurally when the grip strength grows excessively large. Such a control technology of the grip strength has not been developed so far.